Various Artists

Shangaan Shake

Honest Jon's; 2012

Find it at:

Shangaan Electro: New Wave Dance Music from South Africa was a rare depth charge into dance music circles, reminding us of the myriad musics people use to inspire movement. Shangaan Shake is a testament to the pliability of Shangaan Electro as well as to the reach of London's Honest Jon's Records. For the past year the label-- which issued the original compilation-- has commissioned a series of 12"s featuring remixes by luminaries in the house, techno, and bass communities. Shangaan Shake collects mixes by artists such as Theo Parrish, Demdike Stare, Actress, and Ricardo Villalobos and offers them on CD for the first time.

If these mixes have found their way into more podcasts and sets than actual Shangaan Electro tracks, forgive the DJs: the Shangaan tempos (usually north of 180 bpm) and organ-heavy instrumentation made them imperfect fits for the European and North American venues in which people listen to forward-thinking, adventurous dance music. Part of the purpose of Shake, I think, is to give these producers and DJs an opportunity to engage with Shangaan Electro on their own terms; the extent to which each remix preserves the spirit of the source material goes a long way in determining its success.

If you were drawn to Shangaan Electro for its home-stitched charm or for its undeniable otherness, you'll find Shake less compelling. Since adding color or energy to these tracks would border on the obscene, the producers here opt for dubby decay and filter-driven texture. The tracks here are often "deeper" than their inspirations inasmuch as they offer a dynamic range and mastering touch unavailable to the Shangaan musicians. They're slower as well: only Parrish opts to compete with the ruckus, offering a bustling 13-minute edit of Mancingelani's "Vana Vasesi" that, in keeping with his history of disco edits, grabs a potent instrumental bit and loops it.

Some of the lighter treatments are the best. Detroit techno stalwart Anthony "Shake" Shakir beefs up the low-end of BBC's "Ngunyuta Dance" (a popular choice amongst the producers here) and places an iridescent, wafer-thin synth sequence on top of it. Villalobos-- again working with Max Loderbauer-- submerges the Tshetsha Boys' "Nwa Mpfundla" under a bed of mineral bass. Burnt Friedman leaves Zinja Hlungwani's vocals mostly intact, erecting a haunting dub elegy. The smeared, psychedelic takes by UK artists Actress, Peverelist, and Demdike Stare (listen to their contribution here) turn the music's pointillist repetition against itself.

These are inspired, loving takes but they're also safe. Nothing here is as daring or wildly inventive as Shangaan Electro itself. Few producers here stepped outside their comfort zones. Two different Mark Ernestus edits of BBC, for example, sound every bit like Ernestus' spare, hypnotic work with sampled African chanting beneath them; the same method might have been applied to a remix of Neil Young or Nas. During a time when sonic maximalism has started to shoulder its way back onto dance floors, Shake is a tome of deconstruction. At times I long for more grappling with Shangaan Electro's tempos and idiosyncrasies. By playing things close to the vest, however, Shake re-contextualizes these tracks in the varying states of Western electronic dance music, allowing us to re-engage it and reminding us of the global breadth of dance music.